


Talented in More Ways than One

by DivineEli3



Category: The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: F/F, F/M, Multi, Polyamory, Slow Burn Romance, Soulmate AU
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-02-17
Updated: 2018-06-30
Packaged: 2019-03-20 11:45:27
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 8,492
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13717011
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DivineEli3/pseuds/DivineEli3
Summary: Lisianthus Caro is a Half-Hawaiian, Half-Italian 24 year old female, and she teaches Plant Science and Animal Science at Cornell University. Graduating high school at the age of 16 and completing college at 20 is a feat, but there was more to Lisi than just intelligence. She found out early on that she could manipulate electricity, regenerate, and basically take doors off the hinges without even trying (superhuman strength). She figured that these powers were from her soulmate, and she’s tried to kept them under wraps ever since she discovered them. She decided to live her life, but she could always feel that something about her was missing. She just didn’t know that she was a part of something bigger than herself.A/N: Tags will be added as the work goes on.





	1. Overview

**Author's Note:**

> This is my first time writing a polyfic. If you see that something is off or something is incorrect, tell me so I can fix it! I would also like to add that I am not Hawaiian or Italian; I just wanted to make my character unique, so if you have any tips on how to improve my character, please do tell me!

Type: Avengers x Original Female Character (Polyfic)

Idea: Soulmate AU - Share the same talents/skills as your soulmate [includes certain powers with limitations; for this fic, not all talents are shared, only certain ones] (symbol on skin will appear once you touch your soulmate)

Plot: Lisianthus Caro is a Half-Hawaiian, Half-Italian 24 year old female, and she teaches Plant Science and Animal Science at Cornell University. Graduating high school at the age of 16 and completing college at 20 is a feat, but there was more to Lisi than just intelligence. She found out early on that she could manipulate electricity, regenerate, and basically take doors off the hinges without even trying (superhuman strength). She figured that these powers were from her soulmate, and she’s tried to kept them under wraps ever since she discovered them. She decided to live her life, but she could always feel that something about her was missing. She just didn’t know that she was a part of something bigger than herself.


	2. Chapter 1

Having multiple talents wasn’t uncommon in the world. It was just how it all worked out for everyone; it was how you were linked to your other half, to the person you’re supposed to spend the rest of your life with, your “soulmate.” Once you meet and have physical contact with them, something akin to a tattoo appears on your skin, and it was like a branding of some sort, to say that you had found the one.

Most people are excited to have someone they can call their own, and they liked having a special talent that was unique to their person. They fall in love, even though they haven’t even met them yet, because to them, the idea of it is so utterly amazing and wonderful. Some even had powers, and while it scared them a bit, they knew that they were a step ahead of everyone else because they had somewhat of an idea of who their person was. Of course, not all the skills possessed were unique, and watching two people think they belong to each other, only to become disappointed when no marks appear is disheartening. If you ever happen on a scene as such, you can see the hope in their eyes disappear as they awkwardly bid their goodbyes to each other, to never see each other again.

Some disliked the idea that they are conditioned to love a person they haven’t even met or spoken to before. They refuse to go out and seek them, not wanting to be disappointed as they travel and search for an unknown being. These feelings don’t last long however as they meet their own other half in due time and love them with all their heart. Others are more indifferent to it all. They enjoy the benefits of the extra skills and talents and use them to their advantage, for good or for bad. Either way, they just live on and let fate bring their soulmate to them. That’s just how the universe worked.

Lisianthus Caro was one of the ones who used the talents to their advantage, but for normal reasons of course. Lisianthus, or Lisi for short, was born in the humble town of Omao, Hawaii to a half-Hawaiian, half-Italian family. She was also gifted with two younger siblings, Aster and Iris, and they all couldn’t be happier. Living in a town that literally translated into the word “green”, Lisi developed a love for nature and its inhabitants. Thanks to the intellect that she definitely knows she got from her soulmate, she was able to retain all the knowledge she learned in school quickly, skipping a few grades, and despite never setting foot in any other language classes besides Spanish, she knew how to speak Russian, Romanian, Hindi, and Chinese. It was quite a feat to be able to speak more than one language at the age of 16, especially ones from countries that were far from each other.

Lisi’s parents Fausto and Pua were glad that their daughter had such an amazing set of skills from her soulmate, but they became worried about it once they discovered that their daughter was able to do more than just speak different languages and learn a lot. They found out she could generate electricity from her fingertips one morning when she was angry at Aster for looking through her things. She had almost blown out the circuits of the house that time. There was also that time when Lisi took the door off its hinges after coming home on a quiet evening, and then there was that other incident when the leg fracture she suffered after falling out of a tree healed within an hour. Let’s just say that her parents were less than thrilled to know that Lisi had super strength and the ability to regenerate like a mutant.

While her younger siblings were ecstatic to know that their sister was basically like a superhero, Lisi and her parents thought otherwise. They decided to keep it under wraps, and she moved on to live as normal as she could. Following her love for nature and animals, she graduated from high school at the age of 16 and went to the University of Hawaii at Manoa to double major in Plant and Environmental Protection Sciences and Animal Sciences. After getting her Bachelor’s degrees, she continued on and got a Master’s Degree in Tropical Plant Pathology and Animal Sciences. Not a lot of people can say that they love learning about plants and animals, but Lisi was one of the few that can say she absolutely adored what she learned.

Completing college at the age of 20 was a feat and an accomplishment that most would love to be able to achieve, and Lisi’s family was very proud of her. However, she wanted to travel first before settling down. Fausto and Pua understood that and gave her some funds before she left, and Aster and Iris were just heartbroken.

“I’ll call you guys, I promise. Don’t be so upset. I’m bringing back souvenirs afterall. I’m going to miss you mis tesoros (my darlings).” Lisi said as she caressed her siblings tear-stained cheeks, and she smiled once she saw them grin at the idea of the getting something back from her travels.

“Promise me you are going to be safe, okay? Inā makemakeʻoe i kekahi mea, e haʻi wale mai iā mākou (If you want anything else, just tell us).” Her mother stated firmly with tears in her soft brown eyes. Lisi always loved that she got her mother’s brown to her father’s green eyes, but she knows that she got her brown hair from her father as indicated by the curls that adorned her mane. She doesn’t know if she got her tan skin from her father or her mother because they were both pretty sun-kissed, but she was glad to have at least a few traits from each parent, physical or personality wise. Her short height of 5’4” and curvy figure was definitely from her mother though since her father was muscular and stood at 6’1”.

“Yes, be safe, and if you ever need to use that strength of yours, do it. Quei bastardi non sapranno cosa sta arrivando (Those bastards will not know what’s coming).” Her father joked, but she also knew he was serious. As most fathers are, he is quite protective of her, and it took a lot out of him to be okay with her leaving the country.

Lisi planned to travel through Asia for at least a year and then come back to land a job. However, she would not just be going around the country and gallivanting. She took up a job to be a freelance Wildlife Photographer, and she was excited to get started after buying the right camera. Once she left Hawaii and landed in Saudi Arabia with a few stops along the way, it was unlike anything she could have ever imagined. Along with taking pictures of the elusive caracal, majestic Arabian oryx, and other animals, she also learned a form of textile using knotting techniques called macramé, and she figured she could teach her siblings how to as well once she got back.

After Saudi Arabia, she traveled through the borders and went all the way to China, passing Afghanistan, India, and all the other countries in Central and South Asia. From China, she learned how to make fireworks, and she was able to pick up small bits of the languages from the countries she went through. However, she never stayed long enough to learn them fluently. During her time traveling, she had gotten well over 100,000 photographs of the animals she encountered as well as some of the flora, and she also discovered she knew martial arts after she almost got mugged. Lisi went back to Hawaii once her year was up, and her family welcomed her back with wide arms. She didn’t stay long though.

Lisi had applied to colleges in the United States during her travel to become a professor teaching what she learned, and after some months of online interviews and record checking, she got accepted to teach Animal and Plant Science at Cornell University in Ithaca, New York. She was the youngest teacher there. However, the students in her classes loved her way of teaching and the stories she shared about her travels in Asia. She didn’t play favorites however and kept all of her assignments fair, grading strictly and following the curriculum. Lisi received all sorts of questions from her students, but there was always one type that she couldn’t seem to escape - “Have you found your soulmate/where is your soulmate/when are you going to find them?”

Lisi lived as she wanted to. She found a career she was passionate about and got to travel. However, she knew that a part of her was missing. She felt that she could be sharing her life with someone else, but she didn’t want to drop everything to find a person that was supposedly her other half. What she didn’t know however was that she was destined for more than one person, and she was going to find that out soon enough.


	3. Chapter 2

“Now, remember that for tomorrow we are going to be in the greenhouse. The time you will be spending in the greenhouse should be solely for your project, and using it for any other means will cost you this assignment. It is for half of your grade this semester mainly because of how much time we are going to spend on it and the amount of data you are going to collect on the plants you are researching. You all will have access to the greenhouse outside of class time, so I should not be getting any complaints about not having enough time for this assignment. Being passed around by my TA is the outline for the entire project and how I want it to be set up.”

Lisianthus watches as her students read over the paper with wide eyes and nervous faces. She smiles as she sees some of them put their heads down and groan at the project, and it makes her think back to when she had to do a similar assignment back when she was studying.

“I know, I know, this is a lot. Think about it like this though, I have just given you a paper of how I want it all to be set up, how it should be organized. I have even give you some ideas on how to get started for the project, how long I want the paragraphs, and the format of the data tables. I am basically giving you the project without the data. You guys also have my email, so any questions and doubts that you have during this process, use it. You also know my office hours.”

Lisi ends her statement with a small smile, and her ears are met with small exclamations of joy and realization. She was giving her students a lot of crutches, but this was just the start of it all. She was definitely going to amp it up as the semester goes on.

“Now, for the rest of class, I am going to give you guys time to figure out what you want to research. I’m not dismissing you, but this is the time for you guys to get your topics in to me and locked in. I’m not having anyone repeat. If you guys have any questions, you can come up to the front.”

At that, her students got to working, and she had at least fifteen come up to her with questions about the project. As she was answering them, she thought back to her first year teaching and how flustered she was at first, but now in her third year, she doesn’t even bat an eyelash in front of groups of twenty or more. Lisi felt proud of herself for coming so far, and she even had someone waiting at home for her. Not her soulmate, but someone in the form of a furry creature named Kāpena.

Kāpena is a red Doberman Pinscher she had adopted from the shelter during her second year at Cornell. It took some time for the pooch to get used to his new home, but after a few months, the Doberman finally got comfortable. In their time together, Lisi has fallen in love with him just as much as he has fallen in love with her. Some of her students even had the pleasure of meeting him when she went on her morning jogs. Lisi was just glad that the hole in her soul had closed a little bit ever since she got Kāpena. Once Lisi finished answering her students, she sees that her class is about to end in five minutes and decides to dismiss them early.

“Okay, you guys, I’m going to dismiss you guys a bit earlier today. Remember, you have my email, and if you still haven’t given me your main idea, I need it by the end of today. Thank you, and I’ll see you tomorrow!”

At that, her class files out quickly, the students chatting it up as they leave for the doors, and Lisi’s TA starts looking around the lecture hall to see if anybody left anything behind. Lisi smiles at the action. Her aide was also someone that Lisi had been grateful for ever since she started her job at Cornell, and it was quite surreal that despite the girl’s name literally meaning sorrow, she was always upbeat and pleasant to have around.

Brónach Éabha was born in Perrystown, Ireland, and Brónach had always been interested in anything that was green. Her love for nature was also evident in her fashion sense, always wearing something with flowers or plants, and her curly red hair would make the green ribbon she used for her various hairstyles really pop. Other notable features to Brónach were the freckles that peppered her pale skin and her vivid green eyes. Like Lisi, she hasn’t found her soulmate but still enjoyed her talents nonetheless. She knew how to dance in multiple styles: ballroom, hip hop, breakdancing, and more, and she also knew how to play various instruments like the guitar and piano.

Lisi wasn’t sure what to make of the idea of having someone as her assistant when she was first starting out, but she was happy in the end that she got Brónach. Brónach always had good ideas to help out the students and would make it routine to get Lisi her morning coffee and cake pops from Starbucks. There were also times when the two would go out together and have fun. Some might be embarrassed to admit that their assistant at work was their first friend, but Lisi was just glad to have anyone.

“Did you find anything?” Lisi calls out to her TA while packing up her belongings to go to her office. The next class doesn’t start until after lunchtime, so she planned to go out and buy something to bring back.

“No, I didn’t find anything. Are you going out to lunch? Would you like some company?” Brónach asks as she walks down the steps that lead to the bottom of the lecture hall.

“I was just going to buy some food to go and bring it back here so I can work while I eat, but I wouldn’t mind if you came with me. It must be nice that your classes for tomorrow got cancelled.” Lisi says with a smile, waiting by the exit for her assistant.

The two walk out, locking the classroom and heading towards the Coal Yard Cafe that was just a few minutes away from the university. It was a quaint little cafe that most of the students go to before their classes start or during lunch, and the food was pretty good. Once inside, Lisi and Brónach order their food to go - a Grilled Tuna Melt with fruit on the side for Lisi, an Asian Noodle Salad bowl with fries for Brónach, and two iced coffees. Waiting for their orders, they sat down at an available table and chatted. As Lisi was telling her assistant a story, her phones goes off.

“Hello?” Lisi speaks into the phone and directs an apologetic smile to Brónach who waves her hand at her dismissively as if saying to not worry about it.

“Ms. Caro, it’s me, the Dean. We have a problem with one of our classrooms in the Art building. It’s been blacked out, and a class is going to be in session in 30 minutes. I need you to fix it.”

Lisi’s face falls, and she sighs, murmuring an affirmative response into the phone before hanging up. Brónach frowns at her superior’s drop in mood, and she knew what this was about. During Lisi’s first year of teaching, she had tried to keep her powers underwrap, especially her electric manipulation and super strength. However, her department building had run out of power, so the entire facility was out. The university was having financial issues at the time, so they couldn’t hire an electrician to fix it. Lisi reluctantly volunteered to fix it with her powers, and surprisingly, it worked. Ever since, if any classrooms or buildings needed electrical power, the Dean would call her to fix it up. She told him that she wanted to keep her power a secret, and he agreed just as long as she was saving them money.

“I never like using my talent like this, it just makes me feel bad.” The professor says this with a groan, and her TA gives her a sympathetic look.

When their names were called by the cashier for their order pickup, they grab their food and head immediately towards the art building. It didn’t take long to find the classroom as in front of it, there was a group of bored looking students with an anxious professor in front of the door. Lisi quickly guides her way to the teacher and explains how she was going to fix the lights. The teacher let her in quickly, and she looks around the room, spotting the panel and heading over to it briskly. Once the panel was open, she places her hands on the circuit and closes her eyes. Feeling the electricity flowing through her, she flexes her fingers against the wires, sparks of blue displaying themselves as they go into the electric panel.

As she input her energy into the classroom, her TA stood by the door and made sure that no one else saw what she was seeing. Brónach observes the sparks that flowed not only through her mentor’s but from her body as well. From where Brónach stood, it looked as if lightning was shooting out of Lisi’s body, and it truly mesmerized her.

When Brónach first met Lisi, she had thought that the woman had already found her soulmate, but upon learning that Lisi was single, she was surprised but soon realized why she should have known that about her from the start. Lisi had this aura about her that while she was very independent and confident in herself, there was a loneliness that accompanied her being. There were times when Brónach would try and brainstorm about who Lisi’s soulmate could be just from the talents that she saw from her. She knew that Lisi had super strength thanks to that one time when Lisi and her went to the gym early one morning, and when they went to the punching bags…let’s just say that they were both glad they were the only ones present in the gym at the time because there would be no way to explain how a 5’4” woman slammed a large punching bag into the wall with just one hit.

Brónach knew that Lisi’s soulmate was definitely not human, or else her talents were from Lisi herself. However, Lisi had told her that her parents had nothing like what she has, and her siblings were normal too. While the assistant wanted her friend to find the one, she also didn’t want Lisi to be in any sort of danger if her soulmate did happen to be a superhuman.

Lisi retracts her hand from the panel and closes it as the lights finally come on, and she sighs in relief. Both of them exit the room, and the art teacher thanks Lisi with much reverence. The students outside the doors however groan since they just got used to being out and not having to learn. Regardless, Lisi and Brónach go back to their office together and eat lunch, continuing their day as normal, or well, as normal as it can get.

❊❊❊❊❊❊❊❊

After all her classes were done, Lisi sat in her office, doing work as well as waiting for any student of hers to come by with questions. Brónach had left for the day, saying that she had plans with some of her friends. Lisi checks the time on her watch and starts packing up since it was fifteen till seven. As she was finishing up with the last of her papers, a knock comes from the outside of her door.

“Always the last minute stragglers…come in!” The professors mutters the first part bitterly before yelling out for the guest to enter.

Instead of a student however, she was met with the sight of a middle aged woman with intense blue eyes, brown hair in updo with bangs swept to the left side of her face, and she adorned a black and blue short-sleeved blouse, a grey pencil skirt, and black heels. Lisi stands straight and squares her shoulders to the woman, feeling a bit intimidated but deciding to push that aside to be polite. She smiles at the new face, wanting to be seem friendly.

“I was expecting one of my students, I’m sorry. I’m Lisianthus Caro. What can I help you with?” She sticks her hand out for a handshake and is grateful that it was taken with a firm grip.

“Good evening ma’am. My name is Maria Hill. I have a few questions for you.” Maria says with a professional smile, giving off an “all-business, no play” vibe.

“Oh, alright, well, how about you take a seat, and I’ll get you a glass of water.” Lisi gestures to the red armchairs in front of her desk, and Maria walks towards them after giving the professor a nod.

Lisi heads over to her small, black secretary desk, and she pulls the top panel of it down, exposing a row of glass cups in the two middle shelves and a mini fridge on each side. She takes out a water bottle from right fridge and pours some into one of the cups. Taking it over to Maria and handing it over, Lisi sits down in the other red chair and nods as Maria thanks her for the drink.

“Ms. Caro.” Maria starts, but Lisi cuts her off before she could continue.

“Call me Lisi, please.” Lisi states with a sort of pleading tone; she never liked being called Ms. Caro since it made her feel so old.

“Well, Lisi, my team and I have been observing you for a while, and may I say, your abilities are quite interesting.” Maria starts again and ends her statement with a inquisitive tone and a slightly raised eyebrow.

Lisi freezes a bit. What did she mean by “abilities”? What did she mean by her team and her? How long have they been watching her? She smiles and regains her composure, trying to think of something else.

“Do you mean how quickly I got used to teaching people that are around my age? I’ll tell you it wasn’t easy, especially when-”

“I think you know what I’m talking about, Lisi.” Maria interrupts her with a serious tone, not wanting to beat around the bush on the subject.

Lisi stares at the woman for a few more seconds before slumping in her chair and sliding a hand across her face. All she wanted to do was go home, eat dinner, and spend time with her precious dog. She has kept her abilities a secret for years, but now other people somehow know about it. For what reason would they even want to know?

“Look, I…I don’t want it coming out please. It’s bad enough that my personal assistant knows about them and that the Dean here uses my electricity to fix any black out or other electrical issues around the campus. If it comes out, I don’t know what will happen, but I still want it to be a secret, please.” Lisi pleads to Maria, her petite hands clasping together as if praying, and Maria looks at Lisi, as if intrigued.

“Ma’am. I’m not going to disclose this information to the public. That is not why I am here today.” Maria states as if there was no other way she should be there, and Lisi’s eyebrows furrow in confusion.

“Then why are you here if not for that? Don’t tell me you came out all this way for me to fix an electrical issue? The Dean referred you to me, didn’t he? Of course, he’s tried making me help him on the weekends too when he’s too lazy to call someone in for it!” Lisi continues with her rambling, frustrated with the idea that her employer is giving her secret out to people who had no business of knowing.

Maria just watches the young woman, not sure how to end her speech of anger at her superior. Coming to the university, Maria expected the woman they were supposed to be watching to be more calculated and professional, but what she didn’t expect was for the target to be so real and endearing. Maria and her team of agents had watched Lisianthus for a bit more than a month, and despite how Lisi’s life was very normal, it was a change of pace for the SHIELD agents. There was no danger in her life, and her routine was practically the same everyday. Even though there was no action, Maria could agree that watching Lisi live was so mundane that it was sort of exciting. It made everything relaxing for her.

The only times where the agents had some real action were when the Hawaiian-Italian used her powers. It wasn’t often that her abilities came about, but when they did, it was a bit scary. The first time Maria and them saw Lisi use her abilities was a few days into their mission of watching her when the Dean had her fix an outage in the Science building, and the incident made them a bit more cautious of their client. The purpose of the mission was to check out a spike of energy in the area that one of SHIELD’s machines had picked up. The energy itself wasn’t very large, but it was significant enough to be noticed. Over the course of the month, Lisi had shown them that she could kick a piece of concrete beam in a parking garage when she was angry after a day of work, that she could heal a deep cut from dicing vegetables within 10 minutes, and much more. The records they had of her didn’t mention anything about powers, and her family had no known abilities either.

Maria reported all of her findings back to Nick Fury, the director of SHIELD, and he told her to keep observing her for now. It was only this morning that he had told her to approach Lisianthus and try to get her to come to the compound. Maria let Lisi continue on for a bit more before clearing her throat, prompting the woman to look back at her guest with a concerned look that startled the agent.

“Are you okay? I’m sorry, would you like some more water?” Maria shakes her head to say no, but Lisi picks up the glass anyways to refill it for her.

“Lisi, I would like for you to come with me.” Maria’s statement makes Lisi pause on her way to the water station.

“What for?” Lisi questions as she turns her head to look at the older woman.

“My boss would like to meet you and ask you some questions.” Maria says, and she says it in a way that Lisi knows that there is no argument as to whether or not she is going to go.

Lisianthus and Maria engage in a staring contest, neither wanting to back down, but Lisi knew that there would be no way to get out of this situation. Maria looked as if she could kill her in more than 30 ways with just a spoon. Lisi sighs and directs her gaze to the floor.

“Fine, I’ll come with, but on one condition.” The professor looks back to Maria with a fire in her eyes, and the agent looks a bit confused before replying.

“What condition would that be?” Maria was unsure, but she knew that despite Lisi having no leverage in this conversation, she somehow knew that she would rather not make the younger woman angry.

“Let me bring my dog.” Lisi states with a conviction, and Maria knew then and there that this woman was more than meets the eye.


	4. Chapter 3

It wasn’t everyday that a college professor gets to go to a high security compound to get tested for an unusual set of skills, but this was the reality for the young Lisianthus Caro. It was just yesterday that she was telling her group of students about a project that was practically their whole semester grade, and now she and her canine are walking through the large halls of the a building belonging to the Strategic Homeland Intervention, Enforcement and Logistics Division, or SHIELD as Maria had told Lisi to call it.

“Ms. Hill, this is quite the place. Exactly where are we?” Lisi asks with an inquisitive tone as her Doberman pressed his snout against the palm of her left hand, wanting some attention from his owner. They had been on an aircraft called a quinjet, and Maria didn’t disclose any information as to where they were going other than to a place of Maria’s employment.

“I’m sorry, ma’am, but I can’t tell you that information.” The small response that was given made Lisi pout, but she relents, understanding in some way that she wasn’t even supposed to be here in the first place had it not been for her “powers.”

The professor and her companion continue to follow the agent, and Lisi glances around to the other people passing by them, noticing their gazes directed towards her and her dog. Lisi shifts her gaze back towards the back of Maria’s head.

“Guessing from all the stares Kāpena and I are getting, you guys don’t get a lot of visitors from the outside, huh?” Lisi questions, and Maria glances back at her with a slight smile on her lips.

“No, actually. It’s not everyday that we get people like you coming in here, and it’s certainly something new for us to also have a pet in here.” The agent’s eyes swiftly go to Kāpena before going back to meet Lisi’s eyes, and the professor swears that she saw the older woman’s gaze light up at the sight of the Doberman.

“Also, your dog’s name is Kāpena?” Maria asks with a slight eyebrow raise, and Lisi grins wide at the question.

“Yes, it means Captain in Hawaiian. I got him during my first year teaching at Cornell, and I couldn’t be happier to have him.” Lisi rubs her dog’s head affectionately, and he reciprocates with a nuzzle back against her hand.

They walk for a few moments more before reaching large floor-to-ceiling double doors, and Lisi isn’t sure whether to be amazed or intimidated. She didn’t have time to think on it before Maria pushes on the steel handles, opening what seemed to be the gates of something akin to heaven or maybe hell, and Lisi’s brown eyes are greeted with the sight of two figures standing behind a long glass conference table.

One of them is an intimidating, tall, bald African-American man with a goatee beard and all black attire that included a trenchcoat and an eyepatch that didn’t deter the steely gaze behind it, and the other is a Caucasian man who also had a goatee beard but is dressed in something more colorful than the first man - a navy blue suit with a white dress shirt underneath and a blue and gold tie. While the first man was someone Lisi was unfamiliar with, the second man was one she was all too familiar with. After all, he is the head of the elusive Stark Industries.

Tony Stark looks to the man in the trenchcoat with a curious face, but the man ignores him, only looking at Maria and Lisi. Maria walks over to the one-eyed man with a purpose, and Lisi follows her with her dog but with less assertiveness in her step. The young woman isn’t sure what to make of it all, but all she knows is that she is definitely going to have a nice relaxing bath after today with a box of chocolates next to her as she listens to the soundtrack of the movie Me Before You.

“Agent Hill, I know that I requested the presence of Ms. Caro, but I don’t recall asking for a dog.” It was a wonder how his gaze just got more stern with the eyepatch only giving him one eye, but Lisi guesses it was the tone that made everything harsher. Before Maria could reply, Lisi opens her mouth.

“I wasn’t going anywhere without my dog, sir. I also didn’t have anyone to watch after him for the day, and I don’t really trust anyone else with him besides my neighbor.” Lisi isn’t sure what possessed her to speak, but she is glad that she did as she sees the man slightly nod in understanding. If Maria and Tony were surprised, they didn’t show it, but she knows that Mr. Stark felt something about the exchange if the smirk on his face meant anything.

“I’m Lisi Caro, sir, but I guess you already knew that. This is my dog Kāpena.” The professors holds her hand out towards the man, and he grips it in return, giving her a one solid up and down shake before letting go.

“I’m Nick Fury, the Director of the Strategic Homeland Intervention, Enforcement and Logistics Division, or SHIELD as we all call it now.” Fury motions for her to sit down, and she does, the chair giving relief to the feet she’s been walking on since she got to the compound. Fury then looks at Tony who's still standing next to him, and Tony looks back with a smile.

“Stark, what are you still doing here?” The directors questions with an incredulous tone.

“Oh, I just wanted to drop by and see how things are over here because I got an alert from JARVIS on something over at-” Tony starts to say, but Fury cuts him off with an angry yell.

“Are you hacking into my systems again, Stark?”

“Yes, but may I just say that you have been looking splendid lately. Have you been working out?”

Lisi tries stifling her laughter behind her hand, and Maria is keeping a stoic face, even though Lisi can see the slight twinge on the side of the agent’s mouth. Fury just sighs and turns his attention over to Maria and Lisi, ignoring the head of Stark Industries for the sake of his sanity.

“Now, Ms. Caro, I have some questions to ask you about your abilities.”

“Please call me Lisi, sir. I feel like you’re one of my students when you call me that.” The professor says to him.

“Wait, did you say students? You’re a teacher? What do you teach?” Tony asks with an over excited tone in his voice, and Fury just looks more irritated at the fact he got interrupted again. Lisi feels bad for the man, but she also knows that not answering the other man’s questions would make her seem rude.

“I’m actually a professor at Cornell University, Mr. Stark. I teach Plant and Animal Science and have been for the past three years.” Lisi smiles politely at Tony, unsure as to why he’s even asking.

“Call me Tony. Now correct me if I’m wrong, but did I just hear Fury say abilities? What kind of abilities?” Tony was getting more curious by the second, evident from his fast pace of talking and intrigued tone of voice. He wanted to know why Fury and Maria would bring in a college professor, but at the mention of her having abilities, he knew that something was up.

“That is what we are here to actually talk about, Tony, and I suggest you leave now so that we can do our business.” Maria is the one to speak up this time against Tony’s antics, and they just stare at each other for a few moments, sort of in a standoff with just the eyes.

“Fine. Since you all seem so insistent on wanting me to leave, I will. However, I will be back to ask about that alert I got from JARVIS. Expect me back soon and have some donuts for me too.” The man stands up from his chair and heads for the door, not waiting for a response back from the agent or the director. He pauses on his way there though and quickly turns back, locking his brown eyes with Lisi’s.

“Before I forget, I just have to ask. What is Lisi short for?”

It was a question that surprised her, mainly because she didn’t expect him to even ask. Tony was interested in Lisi, but he guessed it was due to the fact that he also didn’t meet many people like her - someone from the outside, someone who wasn’t involved in the superhero activities. However, he was curious about a lot of things, and he knew for a fact that he was going to do some snooping through the SHIELD files, whether Fury liked him to or not.

“It’s short for Lisianthus.”

“Lisianthus, huh? Well, I better get going, it was nice meeting you professor, and hopefully I see you soon. Remember, Maria, I like chocolate and sprinkles on my donuts!” Tony shouts the last bit of his exit speech, and there was just silence once the doors closed. Fury clears his throat before speaking, and they start discussing what they were originally there for in the first place.

❊❊❊❊❊❊❊❊

When Lisi was going in for the tests they had to do on her, she thought it would be something akin to those science fiction movies, but to her slight disappointment, the tests were quite simple. Of course, everything was with her consent, and despite how she was basically taken to a top secret facility with no idea of what was going to happen afterwards, she did it anyways. They took her blood, but they also had her do physical and mental tests. Some of the things she had to do was run on a treadmill with patches attached to her skin to monitor her body systems, take an IQ test, and practice some cognitive skills.

They basically just watched her every move and how she reacted to certain things. Those pertained to the simple things though. The real action was when she started to use her electricity, super strength, and regenerative healing. Fury and Maria watched it all, and suffice to say, Lisi had no control of her physical powers, which stayed true to what she was saying earlier when she mentioned that she didn’t want to use those particular abilities. The professor almost fried some circuits and agents, and she practically destroyed all the punching bags and other materials they used to conduct her tests. She almost broke some of the agents as well when they decided to make her spar.

Lisi apologized profusely throughout the tests, and despite how it was all supposed to be serious, Maria laughed along the sidelines while Fury just had a smirk on his face to show his amusement. There were even times when Kāpena’s barking almost sounded like someone was laughing. It wasn’t often that you get to see a small female with no fighting experience defeat trained persons. Once Fury decided that the information they gathered was enough, Maria took Lisi home, and the director was left to figure out the next step.

❊❊❊❊❊❊❊❊

Like Tony promised himself, he looks through the SHIELD files for a Lisianthus Caro, and thanks to his efficient technology and the department’s organized system, he found the female in question in no time at all. Before Tony could read the files though, his companion and fellow science brother Bruce Banner asks him what he is doing.

“Oh the usual, snooping through SHIELD’s systems.” Tony exclaims as he pulls up Lisi’s files.

“Again? Don’t you ever get tired of that?” Bruce scrunches up his nose a bit, his glasses lifting up to accompany the scowl on the man’s face.

“No. However, this time is different.”

“How is going through top secret files for the fifth time this month different?”

“Because Fury brought in someone.”

“He always brings in people-” Bruce is cut off with Tony’s left hand, the forefinger being the one to shush the scientist.

“He brought in a college professor, Bruce! With abilities, he said. Trust me, I know what I’m doing.”

Bruce gives up trying to talk with the engineer and goes back to his own lab station to do some much needed work. Tony almost feels like having the doctor come back to look through files with him but deciding not to anger the other guy because Tony actually wants to do something today that wasn’t upgrading his suits. Looking through what he was able to get, which was everything, Tony starts reading about the young professor and does so for the next few hours, unaware of what he was actually about to discover.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: She met Tony first, but they aren't aware of their soulmate bond yet! Things are building up in a way, and I like how it's progressing so far. Hopefully I can post another chapter by next week.


	5. Chapter 4

As the teacher’s aide, Brónach helped Lisi with her tasks as a professor. Some of these tasks include printing out papers, answering students’ questions, and even filling in for the professor in her absence. However, when Lisi came back from an unexpected day off, the redhead could tell that something happened. She wasn’t sure what, and she didn’t want to pry either. That didn’t mean she wouldn’t at least ask her friend is everything was okay.

“I was surprised that you took a day off yesterday for some reason. Was everything okay? You normally don’t take off, even if you’re sick.” Brónach remembers that one time the woman was so sickly pale that she looked like a ghost, but Lisi had come in anyways, not wanting to disappoint her students.

“Everything was fine. Something came up that I had to take care of.” Lisi didn’t like lying to people, especially not to her friends, but because there was a confidentiality agreement, Lisi couldn’t actually talk about yesterday with anyone. 

The TA relents and goes back to doing what she was supposed to be doing - helping out her boss. The duo head on over to greenhouse early, wanting to set up a station by the entrance inside the facility in case anyone needed to ask questions or request assistance. On the way, Lisi asked the younger girl how yesterday went in the greenhouse, and she was pleasantly surprised to learn that her students worked the whole time. There were a few bumps along the road because some of them were confused on what to actually do, but with some guidance from Brónach, everyone had been on the right path.

“Thank you for helping out yesterday, I’m really sorry for not being here.” Lisi says with an apologetic smile on her face, but Brónach brushes her off, telling her not to worry about it.

“Yesterday gave me some experience. I learned how to do stuff on my own, so don’t apologize. I should be thanking you, and you deserved a day off anyways! Like I said, you normally don’t give yourself a break, so good on you!” The redhead grins at the brunette, and she smiles back, happy to have someone like Brónach as her TA.

Students started filing into the greenhouse a few minutes before the class set time, and they all got to work immediately. Brónach went off to monitor the students, and Lisi stayed at her makeshift station, checking her emails and planning out the next few assignments. It had only been half an hour when a shadow looms over her desk, and she looks up from the laptop screen to meet a familiar steely one-eyed gaze.

“Mr. Fury! Wha-What are you doing here?” She shouts but quickly hushes her voice as she asks her question, darting her eyes towards her students to see if they’re paying attention to what was happening in her little corner. 

“Ms. Caro, I’m here to talk with you about yesterday. Do you have time after your class?” He inquires, his own eye roaming around the greenhouse slowly, as if looking for something.

“Yes, I do have time. My class ends at 11, and my other one doesn’t start until 1…” She trails off, a silent question lingering in the air about what he wants to talk with her about yesterday. 

“I’ll be waiting at the Coal Yard Cafe for you.” With that, he leaves without waiting for Lisi’s response. 

Lisi’s brown eyes stare after him, not sure how to react to what just happened. She never expected the man she had just met yesterday to show up at her workplace so soon. It wasn’t like he made a huge scene, and their small encounter was quick enough for her students to not notice what just happened. Lisi goes back to her work, attempting to fix her jumbled thoughts.

The class time went on as the students worked on their projects, and only a few had asked her questions. Before she knew it, the time was up, and she dismissed her class for the day. Her redhead companion walks up to her as she cleans up her station, and they both walk towards the professor’s office. 

“I’m going to be meeting with someone at the cafe soon, so I can bring you something back if you’d like.” Lisi claims to her aide, and the Irish woman raises her eyebrows a bit before wiggling them in a funny manner.

“Oooh, is it a date? Do I know them? You can just bring me what I got the last time.” Brónach teases the older woman, and the Hawaiian-Italian blushes a bit in response.

“No, it is a professional meeting, really.” Lisi glares at her friend, and Brónach just laughs out loud. 

The duo arrive at Lisi’s office, and the professor leaves right after dropping her stuff off at her desk and bidding farewell to her TA. The cafe was close by, but she felt bad for making the powerful man wait for her. She figured that he was a busy man, and him taking the time to come to her workplace was something that she felt a little guilty about. Thankfully, she arrived at the cafe 20 minutes after 11, and she sat down right across from Fury who was drinking some coffee. After all, it wasn’t hard to spot a man all dressed in black with an eyepatch in a small restaurant. 

“I’m sorry for the wait, Mr. Fury. What can I help you with today?”

“My team analyzed your test results, and let me just say we were all quite shocked. While some of your results were average, others were exceptional and practically over the top. Those results matched those of our agents, and not the typical sector agents either.” Fury’s eye just looks into hers, and a sort of nervous sweat goes down her back. 

“What agents do you mean, sir?” Lisi raised an eyebrow, confusion and suspense filling her up to the brim as she tried to think of who the man was talking about.

“I mean, the Avengers.”

At the mention of the superpowered group, the professor opened and closed her mouth repeatedly like a fish out of water with her eyes wide in surprise as the man sitting in front of her was just sipping his drink.

“I don’t know how that would be possible-” Lisi started but was cut off as a ringtone rang through the air, and she realized that it was her own. 

She mumbles a small apology to Fury before looking at the phone to see it was an unknown number. Furrowing her brows at the ID, she puts the phone down on the table, letting it ring to the end.

“As I was saying, I don’t know how that would be possible since-” Another ringing in the air cut her off, and she sees that it’s the same unknown number from before. 

This time, she decides to answer since she’d rather not have to deal with getting cut off a third time. Before she has a chance to ask who was on the other side, the caller speaks first. 

“Hi, yes, this is Lisianthus Caro, right? We met yesterday. You know it’s kind of rude to not pick up your phone when someone’s trying to call you.” A familiar voice spoke through the device, and she wasn’t sure what to make of the playfulness in their tone.

“Well, I’m not the type of person to really answer unknown numbers, Mr. Stark.” At the name, Fury raises an eyebrow at the professor as thoughts rapidly went through her mind. What the heck is going on?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I am really sorry for the very, very late update. I've finally gotten into the swing of updating my stories again. I was hoping that my beta-reader would edit the chapter I just made, but she's been out of commission for a while. I've decided to post the chapter anyways, and hopefully I can really start updating this regularly.


End file.
